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LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW — 02/13/09

Union membership sees first significant increase in 25 years

In 2008, union members accounted for 12.4 percent of employed wage and salary workers, up from 12.1 percent a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported January 28, 2009. The number of workers belonging to a union rose by 428,000 to 16.1 million. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent, and there were 17.7 million union workers (USDL 09-0095, Bureau of Labor Statistics).

The data on union membership were collected as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey of about 60,000 households that obtains information on employment and unemployment among the nation's civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over.

Some highlights from the 2008 data are:

Government workers were nearly five times more likely to belong to a union than were private sector employees.

Workers in education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionization rate at 38.7 percent.

Black workers were more likely to be union members than were white, Asian, or Hispanic workers.

Among states, New York had the highest union membership rate (24.9 percent) and North Carolina had the lowest rate (3.5 percent).